Solar plane leaves Calif. on cross-country trip MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) — A solar-powered airplane left Northern California on Friday for the first leg of a planned cross-country trip that its co-pilot described as a “milestone” in aviation history. The Solar Impulse — considered the world’s most-advanced sun-powered plane — left Moffett Field in Mountain View just after dawn. Its creators said the trip is the first attempt by a solar airplane capable of flying day and night without fuel...

Snow falls in May in NW Arkansas, latest ever LITTLE ROCK (AP) — Northwest Arkansas residents woke up to as much as 5 inches of snow in places on the third day in May, the latest snowfall on record in the state. The record isn’t expected to last. The National Weather Service predicted Friday that more snow was on the way for Saturday. Arkansas also was on pace to set record low temperatures on Friday, and more records were likely to fall on Saturday. “For two days in a row we’re going to ...

Anti-gun groups focus on Pryor with ads, visit LITTLE ROCK (AP) — As one of five Democrats who opposed expanding background checks for firearm sales, U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas is facing pressure from gun control groups who are urging him to rethink a position they suggest could haunt him during his re-election bid next year. Mayors Against Illegal Guns on Thursday brought the father of a student killed in the Newtown, Conn. school shooting last year to Arkansas in the hopes of arran...

House Democratic leader talks health careLITTLE ROCK (AP) — U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi defended passage of the federal health care overhaul Thursday during a visit to Arkansas. “Many members of Congress believe that passing the Affordable Care Act was the most monumental achievement in our own lives of public service,” Pelosi told the hundreds gathered in Little Rock at an event organized by the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. Pelosi received a...

Officials: Israel launches airstrike into Syria WASHINGTON (AP) — Israel launched an airstrike into Syria, apparently targeting a suspected weapons site, U.S. officials said Friday night. The strike occurred overnight Thursday into Friday, the officials told The Associated Press. It did not appear that a chemical weapons site was targeted, they said, and one official said the strike appeared to have hit a warehouse. The U.S. officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not au...

Small Wash. school closes because of nice weather SEATTLE (AP) — In a sun-deprived part of Washington state, the promise of nice spring weather prompted a small private school to give students a day off to enjoy the sunshine. Friday is a “sun day” of sorts for the 205 students at Bellingham Christian School, a small, private, nondenominational Christian school in Bellingham, Wash., about 90 miles north of Seattle. “SCHOOL CANCELLED DUE TO GREAT WEATHER! WAHOOO!” the school’s website announced...

Fire forces evacuation of campus, homes in Calif. LOS ANGELES (AP) — A wildfire fanned by gusty Santa Ana winds raged along the fringes of Southern California communities on Thursday, forcing the evacuation of homes and a university while setting recreational vehicles ablaze. The blaze erupted during morning rush hour along U.S. 101 in the Camarillo area about 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles. It was quickly spread by the winds, which also pushed other damaging blazes across the region. Flam...

US suicide rate rose sharply among middle-aged NEW YORK (AP) — The suicide rate among middle-aged Americans climbed a startling 28 percent in a decade, a period that included the recession and the mortgage crisis, the government reported Thursday. The trend was most pronounced among white men and women in that age group. Their suicide rate jumped 40 percent between 1999 and 2010. But the rates in younger and older people held steady. And there was little change among middle-aged blacks, Hi...

Daughter voices anger at mom found after 11 years HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The teenage daughter of a woman who just revealed she abandoned her family 11 years ago said Thursday the disclosure has angered her and she is not eager to restart their relationship. Morgan Heist, who learned last week that Brenda Heist had surfaced in the Florida Keys, said the news has made her recall with bitterness the years of mourning she endured when she assumed her mother was dead and feared she’d been killed. ...

Remains of Boston Marathon bombing suspect claimed BOSTON (AP) — The body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was the subject of a massive manhunt and died after a gunbattle with police, was claimed on Thursday. Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris said a funeral home retained by Tsarnaev’s family picked up the 26-year-old’s remains. He had no more information. The medical examiner determined Tsarnaev’s cause of death on Monday, but officials said it wouldn...

Fresh off victory, NRA holds convention in Houston AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The National Rifle Association has spent much of the past year under siege, ardently defending gun rights following mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut and fighting back against mounting pressure for stricter laws in Washington and state capitols across the country. Now, after winning a major victory over President Barack Obama with the defeat of a gun control bill in the U.S. Senate, the powerful gun-rights lobby w...

Prosecutor calls Jodi Arias a manipulative liar PHOENIX (AP) — Jodi Arias wept and looked away from jurors Thursday as the prosecutor in her murder trial concluded closing arguments by displaying a gruesome photo of the victim’s back, covered in stab wounds, while describing her as a manipulative liar who meticulously planned the savage attack on her one-time boyfriend. Prosecutor Juan Martinez pounded his hand on a table, raising his voice occasionally but largely speaking in an almost whi...

Juror: Landmark EEOC verdict in Iowa sends message IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — A juror says she wanted to send a message by supporting a historic $240 million verdict for 32 mentally disabled men who faced decades of abuse by a Texas company: Never again. Juror Robin Griebel outlined her rationale for awarding $7.5 million to each former employee of Henry’s Turkey Service, while the men, their attorney and relatives celebrated Wednesday’s verdict. One man planned to dress up for a steak dinner with...

Decades-old question: Is antibacterial soap safe? WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s a chemical that’s been in U.S. households for more than 40 years, from the body wash in your bathroom shower to the knives on your kitchen counter to the bedding in your baby’s basinet. But federal health regulators are just now deciding whether triclosan — the germ-killing ingredient found in an estimated 75 percent of antibacterial liquid soaps and body washes sold in the U.S. — is ineffective, or worse, harmful. The U...

Miss. ricin-letters case headed to grand jury OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — A dust mask that tested positive for ricin also contained DNA from a Mississippi man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and others, an FBI agent testified Thursday. The testimony came during a preliminary hearing for James Everett Dutshcke, 41, who was arrested Saturday at his home in Tupelo and charged with making ricin, the same substance mailed on April 8 to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker...

Hagel: US rethinking possibly arming Syrian rebels WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is rethinking its opposition to arming the rebels who have been locked in a civil war with the Syrian regime for more than two years, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday, becoming the first top U.S. official to publicly acknowledge the reassessment. During a Pentagon news conference with British Defense Secretary Philip Hammond, Hagel said arming the rebels was one option that the administrati...

Police, politicians push surveillance post-Boston LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police and politicians across the U.S. are pointing to the example of surveillance video that was used to help identify the Boston Marathon bombing suspects as a reason to get more electronic eyes on their streets. From Los Angeles to Philadelphia, efforts include trying to gain police access to cameras used to monitor traffic, expanding surveillance networks in some major cities and enabling officers to get regular access t...

US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor for “hostile acts” against the state. Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some ...

Oil drilling technology leaps, clean energy lags NEW YORK (AP) — Technology created an energy revolution over the past decade — just not the one we expected. By now, cars were supposed to be running on fuel made from plant waste or algae — or powered by hydrogen or cheap batteries that burned nothing at all. Electricity would be generated with solar panels and wind turbines. When the sun didn’t shine or the wind didn’t blow, power would flow out of batteries the size of tractor-trailers. Fos...

Testimony: Family tried intervention for Jackson LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s mother sat in court Thursday as a police detective testified that she told him the family had tried drug interventions for the singer, believing he was addicted to painkillers. But Detective Orlando Martinez said Katherine Jackson told him her son refused any help, saying he didn’t have a drug problem. The testimony came under questioning by lawyers for concert promoter AEG Live LLC, which is being sued by ...